I am too old now for a cell phone being used on court or anywhere else for that matter ! but my uncomfortable game was during a sand storm in the desert, chewing sand throughout the whole game ! it was our rest period during the heat of the day but I am mad about tennis so I was on court. I have been a keen tennis enthusiast since I was 12 years old, now I am 85 !

I am too old now for a cell phone being used on court or anywhere else for that matter ! but my uncomfortable game was during a sand storm in the desert, chewing sand throughout the whole game ! it was our rest period during the heat of the day but I am mad about tennis so I was on court. I have been a keen tennis enthusiast since I was 12 years old, now I am 85 !

85 Wow that's tremendous ! Harwin are you still actively playing? I met Rod Laver, Roy Emerson & Fred Stolle in 1995. Rod Laver was 57 at that time and has just celebrated his 70th birthday in August of this year. I was fortunate enough to play a game of doubles with those Tennis Legends and considered myself as much on top of my game that even there greatness wouldn't be enough to handle the pressure I was going to put on them. Mr. Laver was my partner for the 1st Round and Fred Stolle was my partner in the 2nd Round.

I never ran so much in my life against these guys. Although they didn't have the legs that made them famous, they compensated with amazing technique , touch & slice that caused me to run up and back several times a point. I couldn't get anything pass these guys no matter what. Each of them had a keen sense of where my passing shot was going to go and as soon as I hit, they were standing there waiting.

So my point is, I'll bet even at 85, you're probably still hard to deal with on the court.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

Maybe around 6 months ago I took one of my nieces to play at a local tennis court. We were having some good volleys, but once in a while she kept hitting to the one side near the fence. Anyhow, I didn't know at that point but when I headed rather fast in that direction I realized there was some sort of oil slick on the court. I put on the brakes and slid at least 5-8 feet.

It wasn't actually oil but was just some sort of mold or something on the court. It actually just looked like a puddle formed there and then dried up with a bit of dirt left. I'm glad I didn't fall in that stuff!

After I found out it was so slippery we continued playing, but whenever I was anywhere near that part of my side of the court I whet from running to a cautious walk. We still had fun for hours, though, but I had no interest in breaking my leg or wreaking my knee.

That just reminded me of a court in Flagstaff AZ that was poured tilted to one side. It was so bad that you actually could see the slant. I asked people why it was left that way and the answer was, the Town couldn't afford to have it broken apart and re-surfaced. But wait I asked, why not just contact the original contractors and have them repair the problem? Oh they took the money and split outta Town never to be heard from again. Can you believe that? They actually commissioned a contractor without any means of getting in touch with them again.

I'm not so sure the Court measurements where accurate either because I kept hitting long .. it had to be shorter than regulation

Last edited by Coach; 10-11-2008 at 05:55 PM.
Reason: Spelling Error

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

#1 - 2001 2.5 SCTA Sectional Championships at Los Caballeros in Fountain Valley, CA - in the middle of my first ever championship doubles match a gardener started mowing the lawn right along the fence which was very loud and totally distracting. When he stopped the silence became distracting, then when we readjusted to the quiet he came back with the leaf blower and it started all over again!

#2 - 2002 2.5 USTA National Championships at Riviera Resort in Palm Springs CA - we woke up the final day of the tournament to 50+ mph winds, searing 105 degree heat, blistering sand blasts and patio umbrellas racing across the parking lot. To our dismay our mid-day matches were not cancelled and we had to play "crazy ball" tennis in the heat and wind.

#3 - 2003 USTA National Championships at the Moore Tennis Academy/Desert Princess Resort in Cathedral City, CA. During the deciding doubles match the golf fairway sprinklers went on full blast, drenching all the spectators and drenching the court. After the "rain delay" the players were totally distracted and had lost their winning momentum.

#4 - A more common seasonal scenario where I play in Southern California: 3PM match with 95+ heat, strong and gusty Santa Ana winds and the sun burning into your eyeballs on the north side serve - then you get suntan lotion in your eye!

Moral of story: learn not to let ANYTHING distract you including pacing coaches, heckling spectators, weather conditions, and most of all - carelessly applied sunscreen!

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Old age !

Coach, no, I am afraid age has caught up with me now ! but I still watch any tennis on my TV. I remember listening to the commentarys' on what we called "The Wireless" when I was 12 years old ! such "oldies" as The Two Helens - Kay Stammers - Dorothy Round, Frau Sperling, I could go on for hours ! My first live tennis after being demobbed from the Army was in 1947 on the old Court No:1 at Wimbledon, I managed to get a front row seat and watched Jack Kramer, (wearing shorts !!!) he won the tournament if I remember correctly that year. In 1992 I was lucky enough to win a competition (questions all about tennis) and the prize was a VIP trip to Munich to watch 3 days of the Compaq Grand Slam, absolutely marvellous, quite spoilt me when I had to queue for a seat at Wimbledon after that, especially in the pouring rain !

#4 - A more common seasonal scenario where I play in Southern California: 3PM match with 95+ heat, strong and gusty Santa Ana winds and the sun burning into your eyeballs on the north side serve - then you get suntan lotion in your eye!

Moral of story: learn not to let ANYTHING distract you including pacing coaches, heckling spectators, weather conditions, and most of all - carelessly applied sunscreen!

Having lived in Phoenix Az. I can appreciate this one. We use to play at 10:00pm at night when the temperature went down to 100. 95 degrees was considered nice & cool

I recall being so hot that if the ball wasn't within reach, I'd let it go because my shoes were melted to the surface. All in all however, one of the best Tennis Communities I've ever encountered was in the Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe area(s). Fantastic people and many very good players that take their Tennis as serious as it gets.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

Fred's Racquet

Originally Posted by Coach

85 Wow that's tremendous ! Harwin are you still actively playing? I met Rod Laver, Roy Emerson & Fred Stolle in 1995. Rod Laver was 57 at that time and has just celebrated his 70th birthday in August of this year. I was fortunate enough to play a game of doubles with those Tennis Legends and considered myself as much on top of my game that even there greatness wouldn't be enough to handle the pressure I was going to put on them. Mr. Laver was my partner for the 1st Round and Fred Stolle was my partner in the 2nd Round.

I never ran so much in my life against these guys. Although they didn't have the legs that made them famous, they compensated with amazing technique , touch & slice that caused me to run up and back several times a point. I couldn't get anything pass these guys no matter what. Each of them had a keen sense of where my passing shot was going to go and as soon as I hit, they were standing there waiting.

So my point is, I'll bet even at 85, you're probably still hard to deal with on the court.

Did you get a chance to pick up Fred's Racquet? I taught a clinic with him a couple of years ago and he was playing with the Head iX10 which was the lightest most powerful racquet Head made at the time. He must have had a whole pound of lead on that racquet. I would have had to work out for a month to play a match with it.

Did you get a chance to pick up Fred's Racquet? I taught a clinic with him a couple of years ago and he was playing with the Head iX10 which was the lightest most powerful racquet Head made at the time. He must have had a whole pound of lead on that racquet. I would have had to work out for a month to play a match with it.

Sorry for the late reply but to answer your question, no I didn't get a racquet out of that experience but I was amazed at how tall Fred Stolle was and actually Cliff Drysdale is equally as tall as Fred is.

Roy Emerson was the quietest of the group in terms of interacting with me. I suppose he considered my role as merely his Driver. Fred Stolle was interested in my opinions about Andre Agassi at that time............

I have to reiterate that although they were up in age, each had very impressive shot selections at the appropriate moments. To be quite honest they didn't give me an impression that participation was a privilege but more so I felt each of them thought it was a pleasure I could take with me for years to come. In retrospect, I believe they were somewhat honored that I held them in such high regard when the younger Drivers didn't seem to relish their contributions to the game.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

cracks, heat, wind

I loved Tennis Angels comments, reminded me of playing tennis in the Coachella Valley where I grew up (Palm Springs). I played tennis in 110 degree weather when noone else would even go outside. I've also played in those crazy winds because it was windy a lot in Palm Springs. But I'll never forget the time one of my buddies tripped on a crack in the court and fell on his face, it was at an away match I'm not sure where, but it was hillarious. I still laugh thinking about it!

Cracking Up

Originally Posted by jboughto70

I loved Tennis Angels comments, reminded me of playing tennis in the Coachella Valley where I grew up (Palm Springs). I played tennis in 110 degree weather when noone else would even go outside. I've also played in those crazy winds because it was windy a lot in Palm Springs. But I'll never forget the time one of my buddies tripped on a crack in the court and fell on his face, it was at an away match I'm not sure where, but it was hillarious. I still laugh thinking about it!

I once played a USTA doubles match on a damagead, cracked court. It was a "practice" court at a big club in my area (Ventura County). Because of a court scheduling error the opposing captain offered to default the entire match rather than ask us to wait for courts to become available. As captain I would have taken the default and gone home victorious without touching a tennis ball, but I put it up to a vote of my players who opted to wait around and play under less than ideal circumstances rather than just go home, and my partner and I agreed to play it out on the dilapidated court in order to avoid the default. Those cracks were actually dangerous, and under the USTA rules we could have refused, but we decided to take a chance, kept our eyes on the crazy bounces when the ball hit those cracks, and came out the winners to boot!

Last edited by Tennis Angel; 10-15-2008 at 12:07 AM.

How good can your game get? You too can play like the Pros with The Wegner Method.
Discuss The Wegner Method here at TW in the MTM forum or visit www.tennisteacher.com for more info.